"The before and afters were so surprising that I actually thought that the people that I'd given it to had airbrushed their photographs."
Mukti is the founder and formulator behind Mukti Organics, the organic Australian skincare range made with native Australian extracts. She's a clean beauty pioneer and one of the original formulators in Australia.
In the early days, when I created Nourished Life, Mukti Organics was one of the very first brands I stocked. I was packing orders out of my garage and funding it all myself. I couldn't always pay for all my stock upfront, but Mukti was the only brand that let me pay it off over time. I've never forgotten it. Mukti told me she's had to ask her own suppliers for the same thing. "I think that's that helping hand, that mateship that we have in Australia that I really like about being in business."
Here are the 3 things I learned from my chat with Mukti
1. She tests every product on herself first
She formulates almost everything herself, with one other formulator. "I don't have a team of people behind me testing."
Her process starts with a gap in the market. "I'll look for a white space and then I'll look at what's available in the marketplace. I'll look at products that I like. I'll look at products that are popular and then I'll reverse engineer them."
Then she tests it on herself. "I'm the guinea pig because I like to see how they work and respond." She goes in as the sceptic. "I always go in with the intention that they're probably not going to work, but then they do."
I saw this for myself years ago over lunch, when Mukti showed me her two hands. One looked like a normal hand of our age, with some sunspots. The other looked like a 20-year-old's. She'd been testing a new product on that one, and that became her Age Defiance range. The Bioactive Renewal range replaces the OG Age Defiance serums.
When she first gave the Age Defiance eye serum to people to try, she told me "the before and afters were so surprising that I actually thought that the people that I'd given it to had airbrushed their photographs." And she still reads every review. "I still read the customer reviews every day when they come in."
If a product doesn't work, it doesn't make it. "I just couldn't live with myself if I was making products that didn't work. So if they don't work, they're out basically."
2. How to layer your serums
I use a few Mukti products and I told her I don't always know what order to put them all in. "I always say cleanse, then you mist, and then you start your layering."
At night, Mukti says to cleanse, mist, then use the Mukti Vital A Vitamin Booster. "You only want to use A at nighttime." Then her night serum goes on top, which is now the Mukti Bioactive Renewal Night Serum. If your skin feels dry, finish with the Mukti Marigold Hydrating Créme "to seal that all in", or a few drops of the Mukti Antioxidant Facial Oil.
In the morning, cleanse, mist, then layer the Mukti Vitamin B Elixir and the Mukti Vitamin C Elixir. Finish with her day serum, which is now the Mukti Bioactive Renewal Day Serum.
Between each layer, "allow the skin to absorb the product, let it sit there for a few seconds, sometimes up to 30 seconds, and then apply the next layer." So "by the time you finish your routine, it's a couple of minutes or less."
3. Put body oil on your dry body brush
I already dry body brush, but I'd never heard of adding a body oil to the brush. She told me "I really like to emphasise the importance of dry body brushing", especially once you're in your 40s.
Before she showers, she puts a pump of body oil onto her dry body brush. "And then I use those circular motions and I really stimulate my lymphatic system." Brush up towards your lymph nodes in your groin and armpits. "So you want to push everything towards your heart."
After the shower, she pats her skin dry, leaving a little moisture on it. "I blend the lotion with a pump of the oil and I put them on when my skin is still slightly damp." That's because "oil and water combine to spread and to help absorption."
And don't forget your hands. Whatever's left over, she said to "rub it in and massage the backs of your hands with it."
Beauty comes from within
For Mukti, beauty "comes from within. It's something that we aspire towards, but it's also something that you work on every day and beauty can be found in nature."
She wants us to be "conscious and aware of everything that we are consuming", right down to "the people that we surround ourselves with and our daily habits." She told me "it's about minimising our impact and being the best versions of ourselves."
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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